Multi-Orientation Beam Control for Additive Manufacturing Accuracy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current additive manufacturing techniques often result in surface and sub-surface quality issues and dimensional inaccuracies due to the lack of consideration for the angle of incidence of focused energy beams relative to the build part geometry, leading to increased post-processing costs and potential scrap rates.
Innovation Solution
An additive manufacturing system and method that determine the geometrical characteristics, including the angle of incidence, of each segment of a build part to control the direction of focused energy beams from multiple orientations, optimizing the beam orientation to improve surface quality and accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a single beam orientation is used for additive manufacturing, then the manufacturing process is simple and fast, but the surface quality and dimensional accuracy are degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The build part is divided into multiple segments based on their geometric characteristics and angle of incidence requirements. Each segment is assigned a specific beam orientation from a available set of orientations, allowing different portions of the part to be manufactured with optimized beam angles for their respective geometries.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically selects and switches between multiple beam orientations during the manufacturing process. The beam orientation is not fixed but is adaptively changed based on the current segment being manufactured, enabling optimization of surface quality and dimensional accuracy for each segment while maintaining process efficiency.
2Manufacturing precision
If beam orientation is optimized for each segment, then surface quality and accuracy improve, but the manufacturing time and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the build part geometry and pre-determines the optimal beam orientation for each segment before manufacturing begins. This pre-planning allows the system to switch between orientations efficiently during manufacturing without real-time calculation overhead, maintaining high productivity while achieving optimized surface quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the beam orientation parameter based on the segment being manufactured. By systematically varying this parameter according to geometric characteristics such as angle of incidence, the process achieves optimized quality outcomes while the changes are managed through automated control to minimize productivity impact.
3Manufacturing precision
If post-processing is performed to improve surface quality, then surface roughness is reduced, but production costs and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system takes preliminary anti-action by optimizing beam orientations during the manufacturing process itself to prevent surface quality degradation before it occurs. By controlling the angle of incidence for each segment, the process inherently produces smoother surfaces with fewer defects, eliminating or reducing the need for subsequent post-processing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The manufacturing process serves itself by incorporating quality optimization directly into the building process. Through automated selection of beam orientations based on segment geometry, the system self-corrects potential surface quality issues during manufacturing, making post-processing unnecessary for many applications and significantly reducing production time.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances the surface and near-surface quality, reduces porosity, and improves dimensional accuracy, thereby minimizing the need for post-processing treatments and reducing waste.
Implementation Method 1
The deposited layers are selectively fused via the application of a focused energy beam, such as a laser, which heats and bonds the material
Data Source
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AI summary
An additive manufacturing system (100) includes one or more processors (118) configured to determine one or more geometrical characteristics of each of multiple segments (304, 306, 308, 310, 312) of a build part (302) at a candidate position relative to an additive manufacturing instrument (101). The one or more geometrical characteristics include an angle of incidence (208, 318) between a beam line (210) extending from a beam source (106) and a surface normal (212, 250) of a respective skin (214) of the corresponding segment proximate to the beam line. The one or more processors are configured to control the additive manufacturing instrument, based on the one or more geometrical characteristics, to direct focused energy beams (320) from a first orientation relative to the build part to form a first segment (306) of the segments of the build part and to direct focused energy beams (322) from a second orientation relative to the build part to form a second segment (308) of the segments of the build part.